Best Coach Ever

Brent McLain @ Rend Lake College

Me

bill squires

boston state college/ greater boston track club/new balance track club

bill rodgers- 10,000 & marathon everything in between, randy thomas - marathon, bob hodge - marathon, dick mahoney - marathon, dick beardsley - marathon, dan dillon 3000 and up.

bill's runners raced from 3000 meters up for race distances

methods bill knows all styles of training methods. he is a GREAT motivator and his ability to tell a story, well, that is a story in itself.

jack daniels

john cook

peter coe

why daniels???

Why you, Zippy, of course!

Nothing like a shameless self-actualization ploy at work here. :)

Zip-zip-ziree!

Seems that Daniels has achieved some rather notable success by helping his athletes train smart and race according to their abilities. Mostly though, he just seems like a really nice guy who enjoys what he does by helping others.

John Cook, Brad Hudson, Mark Wetmore, Ron Warhurst, Jason Vigilante, Jerry Schumacher, Jack Daniels.

I would think that Bowerman cast a much much much bigger shadow across the T&F landscape than Daniels.

The fact that he brought Lydiard to the US is enough.

Harry Groves of Penn State. Most number of walk-on All-Americans. Old School mentality/work hard. Non-political correctness makes him (now) one-of-a-kind breath of fresh air.

Lydiard revolutionized training. In my mind, he stands out as the greatest single coach in the sense of being well ahead of his time.

Is there life beyond Lydiard?

I agree, Bowerman was an innovator but the fact that Daniels utilizes a wide scope of research and applies it uniquely to each athlete might give him the edge.

Lydiard training failed me, it's not for everyone. He made good advances for many people, but no training method is universal.

perspective wrote:

Lydiard revolutionized training. In my mind, he stands out as the greatest single coach in the sense of being well ahead of his time.

I believe at one time Bowerman's athletes held both the 4x1 and 4xone mile world records. Plus he coached Olympians in the throws (as well as all of the distance events) -- and a 400 meter Olympic champion.

So maybe we can agree that common qualities of a great coach include passion and knowledge, but how do these translate into successful athletes? I suspect that knowing what makes them tick and how to motivate and foster continual development would be key. Daniels has been identified as a pseudo-psychologist and can support each athlete as an individual.

Lydiard, Bowerman, Daniels.

To put Hudson on any top coaches list is ridiculous.

Wetmore... good coach, but not best coach ever

Has anyone mentioned McDonell? He just retired last spring and he's already forgotten? Again, he might not be best coach ever, but he could certainly be a nominee.

Peter Coe? What did he do? He coached one guy (his kid), who already had an incredible natural ability and blood doped.

Overall, the biggest two names in distance coaching are Lydiard and Daniels. Lydiard had the biggest influence on running back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and Daniels has had the biggest influence on running in the 90s and 00s.

Lydiard

Daniels

Bowerman

Vigil

Wetmore

Linanna (sp?)

Martin D2

Vandenbusche D2

Newton HS

Tyson HS

A name unlikely to surface here is Dan McClimon, who coached at Wisconsin starting in the early 1970's I think until his untimely death in a plane crash in 1983. Martin Smith and Jerry Schumacher have carried on the tradition that was built by Mac. All the good that has happened at Wisconsin is largely due to his legacy.

A long-distance specialist, his unique ability was to take guys from schools within 90 miles of Madison and turn them into champions. A quiet guy, he was nevertheless inspirational and intense. As one who competed against his guys, I had the utmost respect for him.